Timothy Birdnow

The Catholic Church appears to be heading for a schism. Breitbart news is reporting that Cardinal Raymond Burke (who used to be the Archbishop here in St. Louis and was the head of the Vatican Supreme Court - the top doctrinal officer of the Catholic Church) has demanded Pope Francis issue a clarification of doctrine regarding who may receive Holy Communion or he will be reprimanded.

According to Breitbart:

"Cardinal Raymond Burke has insisted that Pope Francis must clarify serious doctrinal doubts arising from his teaching letter Amoris Laetitia, or the Cardinal will be forced to initiate "a formal act of correction of a serious error.”

In September, four top Catholic cardinals including Burke wrote a private letter to Pope Francis asking him to clarify five serious doctrinal doubts proceeding from his 2016 apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love) concerning Holy Communion for the divorced and remarried, the indissolubility of marriage, and the proper role of conscience.

When the Pope failed to reply to the Cardinals’ letter, they proceeded to publish it online on Nov. 14, hoping to solicit a response.

In an interview with Edward Pentin of the National Catholic Register, Burke said that although it is "quite rare,” Catholic tradition allows for the practice of correction of the Roman Pontiff, something that may become necessary.

"But if there is no response to these questions, then I would say that it would be a question of taking a formal act of correction of a serious error,” he said."

End excerpt.

This is the first time anything even remotely similar has happened in the modern era. Pope Francis has made many disturbing and ambiguous statements since becoming Pontiff, and in many ways he has roiled the Faith by walking to the brink of apostacy on Catholic issues then turning in the most lukewarm fashion. For example, Francis said "who am I to judge" when asked about homosexuality and gay marriage. Well, it is the job he sought and accepted, that's what the Pope does. Catholic doctrine has been quite clear on this; homosexuality is a sin and gay marriage doubles down on that sin. The Pope feels sympathy and that is fine; it's a sin of the flesh and not spirit, after all, and Jesus was quick to forgive sins of the flesh PROVIDED THE SINNER GO AND SIN NO MORE but the Church has always been clear that it is not acceptable, any more than is heterosexual promiscuity or overeating or telling 'white" lies. These may be understandable and even pitiable but are still a violation of God's law.

Francis has been not just a rebel but a revolutionary, a renegade. I am not surprised that some of the inner sanctum of the Church is in rebellion.

There have been radicals inside Catholicism who have sought to hollow it out for some time, and many once-fine institutions (like the Jesuits) were radicalized. The pedophilia scandal was a direct result of such an infiltration by the worldy, who sought to change the "prudish" nature of the priesthood by bringing in the sexually "liberated". The end result was a serious moral wound to the Faith, a wound that continues to bleed. It is high time someone fight back against this spirit of anti-Christ.

But liberals are always unpleasant in their death throes, and just as they rage against conservatives in the political realm so too will they rage against them in the spiritual. There could well be a schism, a breaking apart of the Church. It can be argued that Francis is illigitmate anyway because Benedict was anointed Pope for life, and he was likely bullied into stepping down to put this moral progressive into the seat of St. Peter.

As the Fourth Century Saint Anthony the Abbott observed:

Men will surrender to the spirit of the age. They will say that if they had lived in our day, faith would be simple and easy. But in their day, they will say, things are complex; the Church must be brought up to date and made meaningful to the day's problems. When the Church and the world are one, then those days are at hand.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 09:53 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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